Fighting Shadows Of Wind
by Corentin
Summary: Formerly Wind Dancing In Shadow; Shadow Dancing In Wind.Martial arts plot, no romance for a while. Chapters are short. Summary: You can try to fight the shadows of the wind, but the wind blows you along just the same. You can't win. But you fight anyway.
1. Who The Heck Is Cosme McMoon?

** So, this one came to me when I was practicing Tae Kwon Do the other day. Yeah, novel, I know. Anyway, if you like ShikaTem, this tory will work, but it will likely will be updated less than my other, main chapter story: Man and Wife**

**Anyway. Here goes. Oh, just a note, this story is going to be in first person, switching from Temari to Shikamaru from chapter to chapter.**

**Reviews are my friends. And so are reviewers, for that matter.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Who The Heck is Cosme McMoon?**

OK, so this is complete and utter crap. I've been taking Tae Kwon Do for five years, working my butt off in class and out, working towards my black belt test, which I'd just gotten scheduled, and then, guess what? We have to freaking move! I understand that my mom is supporting three kids on her own, and needed this job, but still. I think we could at least wait until I get to take my test. And we're moving all the way across the country, so no way am I going to get back to take my test. Could things get any worse? ...Actually, yes. There's now freaking WTF _dojang_ within several days drive. Oh, and I did not just attempt to use the swearing phrase WTF incorrectly, that stands for World Tae Kwon Do Federation. Just sayin'.

Anyway, the house is nice, I guess. It's bigger than what we had, because my mom's job pays a heck of a lot better than her old one (one upside to the move), and my room is in the basement, which means warmer in winter, colder in summer. Good combination. The town we're in is called Konoha Village, and it's huge. And green. I used to live in the desert, you see, so Konoha seems really, really leafy and green. And fortunately, it's crime rate is lower, as is the violent crime percentage. Who pays attention to those things? Well, me. That's why I started Tae Kwon Do, anyway. Yes. I kind of almost got raped when I was elven, taking a back street. Since then I've been mugged three times, and gotten away with only minor cuts. So far, so good. My brothers don't do Tae Kwon Do, which is kind of weird, because they're very, very macho. Maybe they'll start here, now that I'm going to have to start all freaking over again. Yes I swear a lot. Is it any of your business? Nope. So leave. Just leave. Wait. I don't want to be here. How about _I _leave? Sounds good.

* * *

It's been a week now, and I finally located a Tae Kwon Do _dojang_,it's called Dengen Dojang. And so, I called them to arrange an appointment, so I can see if I can get into their classes above beginner level. Therefore, here I am, 7:15 AM on a Saturday morning, shivering in this blasted cold (WHY DOES IT FEEL LIKE WINTER HERE, IT'S SPRING!), with 15 pounds worth of gear in my bag, waiting for a bus, because I only have my permit and my mom is busy this morning. Not exactly my idea of a fun morning. There's only one guy at the bus stop, listening to music, and the time table informs me with it's neat, clipped phrases, that the next bus won't be along for about half an hour. Great. A freezing, leafy city, with an inefficient bus system. I sat down, and closed my eyes, trying to fall asleep, but my legs were freezing. I felt a tap on my shoulder, and turned to see my neighbor offering me an earphone. I took it, put it in, then pointed at his player, motioning for him to give it to me. He complied, and I scanned the music. Mostly names I knew, but then...

"Who the heck is Cosme McMoon?" I raised my eyebrows at the stranger, who I noticed only now, had his hair up in what looked like a pineapple.

"Accompanist and composer for the worst singer of all time, Florence Foster Jenkins. Known for making faces behind her back. Choose a song." My gosh. His voice was so low and smooth, so deep an silky, I almost didn't hear what he said. I shrugged, then scrolled down and clicked on the Mulan soundtrack. He grinned at me.

"You've got good taste."

"Always have," I said, mouthing the words to "Make a Man out Of You"

* * *

We spent the next 30 minutes listening to music, and then, when we got on the bus, split up. I kinda regretted it later, as the trip was long, but I wouldn't go back and make a point of sitting with him. No way. Anyway, about 20 minutes after boarding the bus, I got off, and went into the long, low building that proclaimed itself as Dengen Dojang. I found a bathroom, went in and changed into my _dobak_, my Tae Kwon Do uniform. I walked down the halls, looking for room 15, where I'd been told to go. I opened the door, and stopped in my tracks. Standing there was, guess who. The pineapple from the bus, and three other people. All wearing _dobaks_ and black belts. Oh my gosh. Coincidence much?

* * *

** That was a little short, wasn't it? Sorry. Even as I write, It's 2:22AM, and I really need to get to bed, and this is a about a good stopping place. So, there's a start.**

**Hopefully updating soon, but it's not first priority.**

**Please review!**

**-Corentin**


	2. You're Giving Me What?

**Chapter 2:You're Giving Me What?**

So, I ended with a coincidence, didn't I? Well, quite a bit of one. Yes. I shook my head, getting over my surprise, and bowed, then walked in the door. I put down my bag, and then walked over to the four men, who were still standing there. Staring at me. Not polite, but there you are. I bowed to them, each in turn, depending on their rank, and then straightened up. The oldest one, a fifth-degree black belt, held out his hand.

"Sabaku no Temari? I'm Sarutobi Asuma. Welcome to the Konoha Dojang."

"Thank you, Sensei. I'm delighted to be here." _Yeah, right_.

"Let me introduce you to our other black belts." He introduced me to them. I'll classify them by hair-style, shall I?

Hyuga Neji: Very, very long hair. 4th degree Black Belt. No comment on the gayness of his hair.

Uchia Sasuke: Hair shaped like a chicken's backside. Newest black belt, only a first degree.

Nara Shikamaru: The MP3 player man. Third degree black belt, but apparently the first one to make it to black belt.

There you are. I was classifying them in my head, and filing the information, when I realized Asuma-san had told me to fall in. I instantly feel back to about five feet away from him.

"Char'riot!" I came to attention.

"Kung yeh." I bowed.

"This is a test to determine Sabaku no Temari's abilities, and give her a proper rank. Shi'a."

* * *

Two hours later, I was sitting in the hall, breathing hard, sipping from my water bottle as I waited for the decision. I was pleased with my performance in the areas of sparring and slef-defence, but my forms and combinations hadn't been as good, and I'd plumb forgotten my history. Not so good. _Oh well,_I thought. _ I did my best. _I was just taking another sip, when the youngest black belt, What's-his-name-Sasuke, called for me to come back in. Doing so, I fell back into the spot I'd been in before. Asuma-san sat there for several minutes, before he cleared his throat, and smiled at me.

"Sabaku no Temari, we are pleased to present you, having shown proficiency in all branches of Tae Kwon Do relevant to this rank, the rank of First Gup or, Brown Belt with two black stripes." I quickly ran through the ranks in my mind. Hey, I'd only learned them yesterday. Then it hit me.

"You're giving me what? Sir?" That was the rank before black belt!

"I said, First Gup. Do you not think you are deserving of it?"

"No, sir, I was merely surprised. Thank you, sir."

"No thanks necessary, you earned it well. Carry the rank we have given you honorably."

"I will, sir."

"However, Temari, before you can test for your black belt, you must learn our forms and combinations. We use a different set than you do, of course. We tested you on the World Tae Kwon Do Federation's forms and combinations, because I know them, but you must learn ours."

"Yes, sir."

"For this, we will assign one of the black belts to tutor you out of class, until you are ready."

"Yes, sir."

"Let's see, who would be best. Neji's busy, Sasuke's too inexperienced. Shikamaru, it's gotta be you." The pineapple head grumbled, but nodded. Asuma continued. "Very well, Temari. Here is your belt." He handed it to me. "First class is Tuesday at four o'clock in the afternoon, and it runs until 10 o'clock that night."

"Yes, sir."

"Very well then. Class dismissed." I went to the bathroom, and by the time I came back, everyone was gone. Fine by me. Did I hear those hours right? 4 to 10? That's crazy, man. Whatever. I still have my brown belt. I'm happy.

* * *

So, seems coincidence doesn't like me today. I come outside to wait for the bus, and there's that danged Shikamaru kid again. Not that I don't like him, heck, I don't know him, he just...unnerves me. He was sitting next to the wall, head back, eyes closed. I sat down next to him. _Hey, nothing else to do until the bus came by, may as well get to know my tutor._

I stuck out my hand for him to shake.

"Sabaku no Temari. I'm 16. You?" He opened his eyes, and looked at me, so amused and quizzical, that he made me feel stupid. Then he shook my hand and smiled.

"Nara Shikamaru. 15. Where are you from?"

"Suna. You?"

"Right here."

"Right here as in right here?"

"Yeah, my mom gave birth in front of a Tae Kwon Do Dojang."

"Really?" I stopped when I noted the sarcasm.

"Yup. You? As that's apparently the only word you know." He was _laughing_ at me! I turned away. And we sat there for a long time. Maybe twenty minutes, I don't know. But he didn't even try to apologize. Then a car pulled up, and he spoke again.

"Hey, look at that. My dad was sober enough to come pick me up." He stood up, and then walked over to the car. He paused, and turned back.

"Sorry about that. I'd invite you in for a ride home, but my dad's driving, which means he's not drunk, which means he's a pervert. Sorry. See you later. Bye." Then he got into the car and it drove away. ...The gods must hate me.

* * *

As I walked into our new house and took off my shoes, Gaara, my little brother popped up and hugged me, looking up at me.

"Sister mine! How was your martial arts examination?"

"Ah, meh. How are you, Gaara."

"In reasonable health. So, what'd you get?"

"First Gup, which means I can test for my Black Belt soon."

"Great! So, now let's go and catch some bunnies-wait. That's not a meh thing. That's a Yeah thing. Why meh? Something else happened. What was it, Temari? What is the meh-maker here?" I laughed and shook my head. Gaara never stopped making me laugh.

"Well, I have to have a tutor, and my tutor is three ranks higher than me, and one year younger."

"Well, that is some meh, but not enough. Complete the equation Temari, we're missing about ten meh's. FIND THEM!"

"Okay, okay." I giggled at Gaara's antics. "The guy is also really annoying. That enough for you?"

"Still missing about 7 meh's, but I'll find them later." I laughed, and then moved down to the computer in the family room, as Gaara began to prowl the kitchen for something to eat. As I waited for my email to load, I listened to him humming, and then singing the tune of "What Child Is This?", laughing quietly as he sang.

""What child is this, in my refrigerator, I do not know what I am eating. It's wrapped in foil, oh it's chicken. A reality like that will kill any song. Dang chicken. WAHH! HOLY MOSES!" I was laughing full force now.

"What is it, Gaara?" He came down into the family room, holding a foil-wrapped peice of chicken.

"You know how our brother-thing-with kitty-cat-ears always does to left-overs?"

"Yeah, he writes dates on them."

"Precisely! Well, this one is labeled October 31, 2009."

"Gaara, I think that's the one you put in there to see how long it took chicken to decompose after various treatments. Such as soaking it in Windex."

"Ah yes, now I remember. I'll put a smiley face next to the date so I know it's mine. There we are. Now he needs a body. And now some clothing. Hmm..." As Gaara left the room, I smiled, shook my head and thanked kami that I had such an awesome little brother.

* * *

**Yeah, slightly longer. Anyway, since I can't write Gaara well, he's going to be out of character. His character is modeled on my older sister, who incidentally did sing the chicken thing. The stuff after that is fiction, but that quote is her, word-for word. Yeah, I have a weird/awesome sister.**

**So, Reviews, please.**

**Thanks, **

**Corentin**


	3. You've Gotta Be Kidding Me!

** Hello all! I finally got my computer, but then I hit writer's block...Grr. Well, they're finally here. Take them as they are.**

* * *

**Chapter Three:You've Gotta Be Kidding Me!**

My incredibly cool but incredibly annoying alarm clock went off, playing the MP3 I'd set as the alarm three days ago, The Show Must Go On by Queen. Every other day, I'd jumped out of bed, feeling pumped as those classic lyrics flew around in my head. But today, with nothing going on, and a plan to sleep in until 4 in the afternoon, I'd set her freaking alarm clock for 6:30 AM! I groaned, and restrained myself from smashing it, turning the alarm off with exaggerated delicacy. Then I flopped back on her pillow, closing my eyes, determined to gain back all those hours of sleep I'd lost during the move. And then...

"Buddy you're a boy, make a big noise, playing in the street,

gonna be a big man someday! You got mud on your face,

you big disgrace, kicking your can all over the place..."

I removed my head from the pillow, and stared at the offending piece of machinery. My cell phone. My beautiful, sleek, black cell phone, playing another song for the greatest band of all time at the most ungodly hour of all time. Sighing, I picked up the phone, staring at the screen for a second before the words registered in my brain. The caller ID blinking "Unrecognized Number". Groaning, I flipped her cell open. Putting it to my ear, I stifled a yawn.

"Yeah? Who is it?"

"Is this Sabaku no Temari?" The voice on the other end was familiar somehow, but nobody I know. Correction, nobody in Konoha. I don't know anybody in the thrice-blasted village hidden the trees.

"Yes, it is. Who is this?" The guy's voice was rich and warm, like...dark chocolate. I licked my lips. I could really go for a bar of that right now.

"This is Nara Shikamaru." Nara, Nara, Nara. Who was it? I can't remember. Maybe a distant cousin? Oh, right, Nara! The black belt.

"Oh, Pineapple head!"

"...Excuse me?" Oh. My. God. What did I just say?

"Oh my God, I'm sorry, I just woke up, and well, your hair looks like a pineapple, but at least you have the common sense not to shape your hair like a bird posterior."

"Do you mean Sasuke?"

"Ah, yes. Chicken-Butt-Head. What's-his-name Sasuke."

"Uchiha."

"Excuse me? Did you sneeze?"

"No, that's Sasuke's clan. The Uchia."

"Oh, right." The silence dragged on for several long moments. Long, long moments.

"Anyway", said Shikamaru, "I was calling you to let you know that we're going to have our first tutoring session in two hours."

"Two hours? Are you kidding me? No, I haven't known you long enough for this to be a prank call...But it's only 6:30! And it's a Sunday!"

"Early to bed and early to rise makes a man, or woman, healthy, wealthy, and wise. And I'm an atheist."

"But, but..."

'Two hours, woman. The address is 42 Kage Drive. **CLICK**"

I stared at my phone, buzzing in my hand. It's barely dawn, and the bloody kid was calling me to tell me I had a training session? This is so wrong.

* * *

So, after spending an hour moping around and eating breakfast, I finally left for the address Pineapple-head had denoted. And took one hour and seventeen minutes to get there. Greaaat...Like this day doesn't suck enough already. I stared at the house which, the nameplate informed me, was 42 Kage Drive. It was HUGE. I'm talking mansion size here, at least a hundred rooms. Who would have thought that Shikamaru, the kid whose dad was apparently too drunk to pick him up most of the time, had a millionaire family? Well, me, for one. I stared up the long, winding drive, and then tramped across the well-manicured lawn, up to Shikamaru's house. Although that structure defiantly defied the definition.

As I stood at the (HUGE) door, waiting for a reply to my doorbell ring, I felt incredibly self-conscious of my kind of ratty clothes. I'd just thrown on whatever, I mean, I was training, and I'd be wearing my uniform anyway. Even the doorway looked elegant, for Pete's sake. The door opened, and I stared, dumbly, at the girl standing there, with frazzled hair and huge glasses. She looked at me for a moment, then spoke quietly.

"We don't give handouts, sorry." WHAT. THE. FREAKING. HECK? She thought I was a tramp! I was spluttering, when Shikamaru appeared behind the girl, and spoke, in his chocolate voice.

"This is the girl I told you about, Shiho. My trainee." The girl turned red.

"My apologies, Master Shikamaru." And then she scuttled off, not even bothering to say "Sorry" to me. Great. First mistaken for a homeless person, then ignored. That was about my line of thought when I realized that Shikamaru was staring at me.

"You're late."

"Yeah? Maybe try shortening your driveway. It's a freaking mile-long-driveway."

"Not my house," he said, raising his palms.

"What? Isn't this your house?"

"If you mean where I live, yes. If you mean a house that I own, no." I was busy trying to formulate a witty remark, when he turned his back on me, walking into the house.

"Come on, then, troublesome woman. We've got training to do." I stumbled after him, my bag bouncing against my backside.

* * *

"All right, troublesome woman, now that you've changed and are now half an hour late, we'll begin. Today's training focuses on patience and respect, two of the core values of Tae Kwon Do."

"What the heck? I thought you were going to teach me the forms and stuff I need to know. I know about patience and respect and all that other crap."

"Hmm. Well, no matter, this can be a refresher course." I was about to say something, when he cut me off.

"Char'riot." I snapped to attention, biting back my words.

"Kung yer." I bowed, fighting the thought of punching him in the gut.

"Anjo." I sat, folding my legs, looking foreword to see, instead of Shikamaru's face, his knees. He hadn't sat down. I looked up at him, puzzled.

"This will be a four hour lesson," he said. "You will rise from your sitting position and sit back down, taking half an hour to stand up and half an hour to sit down. You will repeat this process of sitting and standing four times."

"I-"

"No backtalk. Do you want to become a Black Belt or not?" I swallowed my words.

"Begin."

* * *

I stumbled into my room and flopped down on my bed. Stupid, stupid dumb pineapple head. He'd watched me like a hawk, and if I went to fast, he called me on it, and added a minute to the time required, and every time I fell down, he made me start over again. The lesson had taken eight hours, and by the third I was already starving. By the eighth, I would have killed for a drink, especially because he had turned on the heat, so the room was like a sauna. Also, although it sounds just dumb and boring, the drill was actually incredibly hard. And because I'd complained the entire way through, he made me do the last set on my toes. I was strong enough to take it, but only just barely. Damn that kid. Who did he think he was, torturing me for eight hours? THIS is my tutor? You've gotta be kidding me.

* * *

** Well, I finished it. There you are.**

**Incidentally, my teacher made me do the standing up thing, although only once, and I just had to take 15 minutes to stand up. Still, I was only a white belt. It was quite tiring.**

** So, I have a computer now! Rejoice, all!**


	4. Why?

**For those of you who are laymen or do another style of Tae Kwon Do, here's a breakdown.**

** Tae Kwon Do is a kicking art, formed in 1945. If anybody tells you it's thousands of years old, that's crap. Korea traditionally had martial arts up to thousands of years ago, and those martial arts did influence Tae Kwon Do, but Tae Kwon Do was formed in 1945, after Korea was liberated from Japan, which had occupied it during WWII and suppressed all Korean culture. So, Tae Kwon Do was formed through the process of using science, old martial arts, and common sense to come up with the best, most effective fighting style. Tae Kwon Do is now one of the most popular martial arts in the world. **

** Tae Kwon Do is broken up into two main styles, World Tae Kwon Do Federation, and International Tae Kwon Do Federation. The split happened when General Choi, one of the founding members of Tae Kwon Do, went to North Korea for a demonstration. The other founders didn't like that, and they split from General Choi. They went on to form the ITF, which focuses on sparring (from what I know of it), which is the Tae Kwon Do that is at the Olympics. General Choi formed the WTF, which focuses on the more traditional elements, such as forms (a sort of Tae Kwon Do dance), which is the style I belong to, and the dojang in the story follows. Kind of. My school doesn't take part in any tournaments, and this one does.**

** My Tae Kwon Do classes consist of: Sparring, sparring drills, self-defense, traditional form and combination work, and workouts. The belt ranking system is as follows.**

** White, Yellow, Green, Purple, Blue (which is what I currently am), Red, 3****rd**** Degree Brown, 2****nd**** Degree Brown, 1****st**** Degree brown, and then Black, which there are nine degrees of. **

**So, this was long, but I hope this clears anything up. If you have any questions, PM me, and I'll be more than happy to answer them.**

**Chapter 4: Why?**

I've now met with Shikamaru twice, the time on Sunday, and another time yesterday, on Monday. Both times, he's made me do the same thing, stand up and sit down incredibly slowly. I don't understand it. First of all, the training has no purpose, besides torture, and second of all, Shikamaru, who came off as fairly laid back, is really a slave driver when it comes to training me. Oh well. Today is the first class I'm taking, which will hopefully be enjoyable. But it is 6 hours long…

I got to the dojang about ten minutes early to make sure I was there on time (let's just say I'm usually late. To everything.) When I got there, there was an amazing amount of people there; I'd say at least sixty, people of every rank from white to black. Needless to say, I was kind of overwhelmed. I stood there, in the doorway, kind of dazed, before a voice behind me startled me out of my reveille.

"Going in?" I turned around to see a brown-eyed girl, with her hair in two buns on her head, standing there with a quizzical expression on her face. I glanced down at her belt to see how I should address her, and saw a Brown Belt with a pair of black stripes, 1st Degree just like mine.

"Yeah," I said, kind of nervously. "I was just kind of overwhelmed." I went in, bowing at the door, and looked around for a place to put my things.

"This way." The girl walked past me and, having nowhere else to go, I followed her to a corner of the room. She put down her bag in a relatively empty spot, and motion for me to do the same. As I straightened up, I saw her looking at me. I stood there, kind of uncomfortable, until she extend her hand.

"Tenten."

"Temari," I answered.

"Are you the new girl? I haven't seen you around here before, where are you from?"

"Yeah I am, I'm from Suna."

"So, how do you like it here so far?"

"Well, it's really green, and I haven't gotten used to the temperature, but it's okay, I guess."

"I was born here, so it doesn't seem cold at all to me, but I guess coming from the desert…"

"Yeah…"

"Neji told me about your test, he said he was impressed, but pitied you."

"Pitied? Why?"

"You have Shikamaru as your tutor, correct? He's a real strange one. I don't think anybody here understands him."

"Yeah, he is tutoring me, although so far he's just made me stand and sit."

"Ah, that drill. Huh."

"What?"

"Nothing. Have you met the rest of our staff?"

"Staff? Meaning brown belts and black belts."

"I met Sasuke, Neji , and Shikamaru, but nobody else."

"Okay, then here they are. You see the guy with yellow hair, jumping around? That's Naruto, 3rd degree brown belt. He's not very skilled, but he's got endless energy. The kid with the bowl cut next to him is Rock Lee, 2nd degree brown belt. He's not incredible at most things, in fact he's pretty bad, but he's very good at sparring. The girl with the pink hair is Sakura, 3rd degree brown belt. She's a really good teacher for the lower ranks. Lastly, we've got Choji, the chubby kid, 3rd degree brown belt, and Masters Kakashi and Guy, two visiting 3rd degree Black belts. Lee and Naruto are actually going to travel with them when they leave, to get some experience. The rest you know." I blinked, trying to digest all of this.

"Wow. That's… a lot."

"Tell me about it. I've been here forever, and I still can't keep everybody straight. Oh, here comes Master Asuma. Class is gonna start in a second. Nice to meet you Temari, and good luck."

"Nice to meet you to, Tenten." Just then, Master Asuma's voice echoed through the hall.

"Fall in!" We all moved quickly into four person rows, arranged by rank. "Now, before we start, I want everyone to meet our new brown belt, Sabaku no Temari. Temari, please come forward." I obeyed, jogging up to the front of the class, and bowing to everybody. "Temari comes from a WTF dojang, and will be learning our forms, but she clearly tested as being ready for this rank. From now on, she will be joining Shikamaru as his assistant in sparring, weapons and self-defense instruction. Alright, Temari, you may go."

The class was indeed six hours long. However, only half of it was for pre-brown belt ranks, so the less advanced ones went home at seven o'clock, leaving us brown and black belts to our more advanced work. The work was fairly easy in the earlier half, as I was an assistant instructor, meaning I got to spend a lot of time just standing around. However, afterwards, we spent two hard hours working hard, with plenty of old fashioned kicking and punching. When we had finished this, Asuma had us take a small break, and then called us together.

"Alright, everybody! Since we have Temari with us now, I think it's high time we did some point sparring. Temari will be the challenger, and anyone who wants to can come up and fight her." Oh. Crap. Did he really just say that? Crap.

We spent almost an entire hour doing this, and I was pretty well exhausted. However, I was proud of myself, having beaten Naruto, Rock Lee, Tenten, and tied with Master Kakashi, although I suspect he was just being lazy. I was standing in the marked off space, hoping that we were done, when everybody started chanting Shikamaru's name.

"Come Shikamaru, show her how it's done!" shouted Tenten. Oh please yes! Let me get a crack at that stupid kid! I'll break his face-

"No." The whole room went silent, even though Shikamaru had spoken quietly. "She's not worth the time right now." Everybody stood around, looking at the floor, as I stared at him. HOW DARE HE! I stomped up to him, and punched him in the face. At least, I meant to. My fist only meet thin air, and Shikamaru was standing behind me, his arms on my waist. I was about to elbow him away when he flipped me around and over, slamming me to the floor. The sound echoed through the _dojang_, and I was painfully aware of his smirk, as he stared down at me.

"Like I said. Not worth it." Shikamaru walked over, picked up his gear, and left. Asuma stood there awkwardly, and then spoke.

"Alright, everyone…class dismissed." The whole group picked up their things, and quietly left, as I laid there, feeling more pathetic than I ever had in my entire life. Tenten came over and bent down to me.

"Don't let it get to you, Tem. Shikamaru's the best fighter here. He can beat anyone in the dojang, including Masters Guy, Kakashi, and Asuma. Strangly, though, he won't compete at tournaments." She turned to leave, looking back at me. "Are you going to be alright?" I nodded, and as she left, I could see she understood. As soon as she was gone, I began to cry, letting all my frustration out. What had I been training for, that he could beat me so easily? Was it all a joke? Why?

**So yeah. That sucks for her. Hey! I haven't seen you people in forever. I'm maybe back. But I'm looking to get a job soon, so…maybe not. OO! Also, I'm gonna be testing for my Brown Belt next fall semester end. SO nervous already!**

**Reviews make my soul feel awesome.**


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